As Team Mayweather seems to be laying the groundwork for the ultimate duck of all ducks – by claiming he must make more money than Pacquiao because he’s the bigger draw, Pacquiao has been stopped twice, Pacquiao only beat Hatton and Oscar after he finished them – Bob Arum smartly has put immense public pressure on Mayweather to accept the only real fight the boxing world wants to see – Pacquiao vs. Mayweather.
Arum has decided to compromise and will accept a 50/50% split but still does not believe Floyd is seriously interested in risking his unbeaten record against the extremely dangerous, primed, young and confident Pacquiao. “There’s no chance that you are going to see Mayweather with a live opponent. I’m not denigrating Marquez but Marquez has no chance with Mayweather. You will not see Mayweather in a real fight – ever is a long time – but in the foreseeable future.”
Arum continued and then drops the bombshell. Though the 50/50 split seems fair, Arum says he’s “absolutely not optimistic. Otherwise, hey man, (Floyd can) call you, call them, call somebody. Say Arum is full of shit. (Floyd can say) I’m ready to sign, 50/50. Bring your own promoter, I promote Manny. We do the deal in two seconds. Call Richard Shaeffer – he’s working with Shaeffer – I’ve done so many fights with Richard Shaeffer. It’s great, I love to work with him.”
“This is not a ploy. I tell you, we could sacrifice – and I believe it’s a sacrifice – because that’s the only way I can see it getting done – is a 50/50 deal. You saw tonight, Manny Pacquiao is now ‘The Guy’ in boxing (Pacquiao got a huge ovation from the Puerto Rican crowd at MSG on July 13). So what more can I say? 50/50!”
So there you have it. Floyd Mayweather has the biggest money fight in all of boxing knocking at his door, at a more than fair 50/50. That could equate to as much as $25 million apiece. Why waste time with Marquez for chump change? Marquez can fight the winner. Don’t forget, Floyd recently said he knows he would beat the shit out of Manny.
As we all know about double-talking Floyd, the man who continuously handpicks safe, old, slow or faded name opponents, and avoids risky prime threats who can brutally abuse him in the ring, it remains to be seen if Floyd will finally man up and accept to take a dangerous and potentially massively exciting fight.
Somehow, some way there is the sense Floyd will find a way to dodge this Pacquiao offer, as he always does. Let’s hope Floyd can prove these doubts wrong.
Floyd says he knows he “can beat the shit out of Manny Pacquiao” and Pacman knows it too. Okay, lil guy, step up and show us now, rather than saying it. Talk the talk is good, now it’s time to walk the walk.
Scoop’s book “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle” was called “A smashing success” by Emanuel Steward, and “One of the two best boxing books I’ve ever read.”